Smith, William: A smaller dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities (London, 1871)

CIVITAS.

92

CLAVTJS LATUS.

tinction made between two great classes of
Roman citizens, one that had, and another
that had not, a share in the sovereign power
(optimo jure, rton optima jure rives). That
which peculiarly distinguished the higher
class, or the optimo jure cites, was the right
to vote in a tribe (jus suffragiorum), and the
capacity 01 enjoying magistracy (jus hono-
rum). The inferior class, or the non optimo
jure vires, did not possess the above rights,
which the Romans called jus publicum, but
they only had the jut privatum, which com-
prehended the jus connubii ttnAjut commercii,
and those who had not these had no citizen-
ship.—Under the empire we find the free
persons who were within the political limits
of the Roman state divided into three great
classes. The same division probably existed
in an early period of the Roman state, and
certainly existed in the time of Cicero. These
classes were, Cires, Latini, and Peregrini.
Ciris is he who possesses the complete rights
of a Roman citizen. Peregrinus was inca-
pable of exercising the rights of commercium
and connuhium, which were the characteristic
rights of a Roman citizen; but he had a
capacity for making all kinds of contracts
which were allowable by the jus gentium.
The Latinus was in an intermediate state ;
he had not the connubium, and consequently
he had not the patria potestas nor rights of
agnatio ; but he had the commercium or the
right of acquiring quiritarian ownership, and
he had also a capacity for all acts incident to
quiritarian ownership, as the power of making
a will in Roman form, and of becoming heres
under a will. The rights of a Roman citizen
were acquired in several ways, but most com-
monly by a person being born of parents who
were Roman citizens. A slave might obtain
the civitas by manumission (vindicta), by the
census, and by a testamentum, if there was
no legal impediment; but it depended on
circumstances whether he became a civis
Romanus. a Latinus, or in the number of the
peregrini dediticii. [Manumissio.] The
civitas could be conferred on a foreigner by a
lex, as in the case of Archias, who was a
civis of Heraelea, a civitas which had a foedus
with Rome, and who claimed the civitas Ro-
mana under the provisions of a lex of Silvanus
and Carbo, u. c. 89. By the provisions of
this lex, the person who chose to take the
benefit of it was required, within sixty days
after the passing of the lex, to signify to the
praetor his wish and consent to accept the
civitas (profiteri). This lex was intended to
give the civitas, under certain limitations, to
foreigners who were citizens of foederate
states (foederatis civitatibus adscripts).
[Foederatae Civitates.] Thus the great

mass of the Italians obtained the civitas, and
the privileges of the former civitates foede-
ratae were extended to the provinces, first to
part of Gaul, and then to Sicily, under the
name of Jus Latii or Latinitas. This Latini-
tas gave a man the right of acquiring the
Roman citizenship by having exercised a
magistratus in his own civitas ; a privilege
which belonged to the foederatae civitates of
Italy before they obtained the Roman civitas.

CLARIGATlO. [Fetiales.]

CLASSICUM. [Cornu.]

CLAVUS AXXXLIS. In the early ages of
Rome, when letters were yet scarcely in use,
the Romans kept a reckoning of their years by
driving a nail (clavus), on the ides of each
September, into the side walls of the temple
of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, which ceremony
was performed by the consul or a dictator.

CLAVUS GUBERXACULI. [Xavis.]

CLAVUS LATUS, CLAVUS AXGUSTUS.
The clavus, as an article of dress, seems to
have been a purple band worn upon the tunic
and toga, and was of two fashions, one broad
and the other narrow, denominated respect-
ively clavus latus and clavus angustus. The
former was a single broad band of purple,
extending perpendicularly from the neck
down the centre of the tunic ; the latter pro-
bably consisted of two narrow purple slips,
running parallel to each from the top to the
bottom of the tunic, one from each shoulder.
The latus clavus was a distinctive badge of
the senatorian order ; and hence it is used to
signify the senatorial dignity, and laticlatius,
the person who enjoys it. The angustus
clavus was the decoration of the equestrian
order ; but the right of wearing the latus
clavus was also given to the children of
equestrians, at least in the time of Augustus,
as a prelude to entering the senate-house.
This, however, was a matter of personal in-
dulgence, and was granted only to persons of
very ancient family and corresponding wealth,
and then by special favour of the emperor.
In such cases the latus clavus was assumed
with the toga virilis, and worn until the age
arrived at which the young equestrian was
admissible into the senate, when it was relin-
quished and the angustus clavis resumed, if a
disinclination on his part, or any other cir-
cumstances, prevented him from entering the
senate, as was the case with Ovid. But it
seems that the latus clavus could be again
resumed if the same individual subsequently
wished to become a senator, and hence a
fickle character is designated as one who is
always changing his clavus. The latus clavus
is said to have been introduced at Rome by
Tullus Hostilius, and to have been adopted by
him after his conquest of the Etruscans ; nor